Nelson's Linkblog 2012-05

about • archive • mastodon • feed

Great collection of photos of artificial things

2012-05-31 photos • photography • simulation • artificial

Google censorship circumvention

Search engine predicts queries that will cause problems in China

2012-05-31 gfw • firewall • china • censorship • google

LLVM architecture

Lovely overview of a modern compiler

2012-05-31 compiler • gcc • llvm • clang • architecture

Secure boot and Fedora

Crazy hoops a Linux distro is jumping through to be able to boot on a modern PC

2012-05-31 windows • pc • drm • linux • microsoft • grub • uefi

Flame malware = Angry Birds

The stupid, it burns with a searing heat

2012-05-31 malware • flame • lua • stupid

Muni on time rates

Nice map of our 60% on time performance.

2012-05-31 SF • sanfrancisco • muni • map

Zeros in JavaScript

Fantastic little summary of the weird rules of Javascript

2012-05-31 javascript • language • coding • lulz

A new compression too; LZMA from 7Zip turned into a general Unix tool

2012-05-30 compression • lzma • 7zip

Lessig's commencement address

Deeply personal entreaty to new lawyers to not be corrupt

2012-05-30 lessig • corruption • politics

Slides from a talk describing Google's replacement for MySQL in the ads system

2012-05-30 mysql • ads • google • database

Stamen Field Papers

Print out a map, scribble, scan and save. Walking Papers made into a product

2012-05-30 stamen • mapping • cartography • migurski

twitter.com performance

Twitter is moving away from Javascript heavy and back to server rendering

2012-05-29 twitter • javascript • performance

Apple's Crystal Prison

Excellent EFF editorial calling on Apple to respect open computing

2012-05-29 apple • eff • freedom

Diablo 3 in China

The game is not for sale in China, so retailers are selling it as "pineapples"

2012-05-29 games • diablo • china

After the Internet comic

Sweet story; don't have the original source

2012-05-29 comic • internet

DADT died quietly

Followup on allowing gays in the US military. No one gives a damn.

2012-05-29 gay • dadt • military • civilrights

Javascript compression libraries

Evaluation of a surprisingly difficult task

2012-05-29 javascript • compression • lzw

A small Python interpreter

2012-05-28 via:onethingwell • python • embedded • lua

A Canadian island only discovered in 1973, with a satellite image

2012-05-28 landsat • maps • canada • islands

1937 SF GGB opening

brochure, photos from the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937

2012-05-28 sanfrancisco • sf • goldengatebridge • ggb • monas • advertising • history

1890 NY demographic map

Crazy amount of textures

2012-05-28 maps • visualization • infovis

Flame disclosure

Kaspersky broke the news on the espionage malware

2012-05-28 malware • badtech • espionage • flame

Complex general purpose espionage malware

2012-05-28 flame • malware • badtech • espionage

Visual programming

An old friend of mine discusses programming environment evolution

2012-05-27 ide • programming • tools • lighttable • smalltalk

SF Geography data

Collection of shapefiles and other goodies from SFData

2012-05-27 data • sanfrancisco • geo • gis

Grindr for straight women

How do you make a casual hookup app for hets?

2012-05-26 sex • grindr • gay • gender • mobile

Nasdaq IPO snafu

Details of what went wrong with Facebook's opening

2012-05-26 facebook • nasdaq • ipo • trading • markets

Facebook IPO mistakes

Very detailed research on Facebook not following the S-1 IPO process properly

2012-05-25 facebook • ipo • fraud • startup

PEP 405: virtualenv

Popular Python management tool is going to be in Python 3.3

2012-05-25 python • deployment • ops • virtualenv • pip

Planet Money app

My favorite podcast has a bespoke iPhone app

2012-05-25 iphone • planetmoney • npr • radio • podcast

Name for when an organization falsely claims copyright on something

2012-05-25 copyright • copyfraud • ip • rights

892 grid partitions

A breakdown of design options

2012-05-25 via:robotwisdom • design • grid • poster

Great set of aerial photos of US prisons

2012-05-24 prison • architecture • ugly • aerial

America! by Bill Callahan

Funny song, great video; from the Jaar Essential Mix

2012-05-24 music • nicolasjaar • billcallahan

A challenger to Amazon Web Services, in China

2012-05-23 amazon • china • cloud • baidu

Popup shows keyboard shortcuts on Mac applications

2012-05-23 mac • shortcut • keyboard

Navy plebes covered in lard

A photodocumentary

2012-05-23 gay • men • navy • beefcake • annapolis

BART stop at 30th & Mission

Proposal for adding a BART stop, didn't get anywhere

2012-05-23 transit • bart • mission • noevalley

The endangered public company

Interesting article about corporate governance

2012-05-23 business • corporation • ipo • soes

Remarkable story of the lengths one goes through to hack Google Chrome

2012-05-22 chrome • browser • security • pwn

Lawlessness in Ukraine

Fascists beat gay pride parade organizer

2012-05-22 kiev • ukraine • gayrights • gay • lgbt • fascism

Great organizer, great time of year for Portland. I'm going!

2012-05-22 conference • waxy • internet • etsy • metafilter

TileMill compositing

Some nice Photoshop-like graphics abilities being added

2012-05-22 maps • tilemill • graphics

Google+ user study

Shows little social engagement

2012-05-22 google • google+ • googleplus • social • facebook • via:metafilter

Facebook IPO fraud?

Allegation Morgan Stanley withheld information from the public

2012-05-22 sec • fraud • ipo • facebook • finance • investment

teens' texting and Facebook

Some sociology data on teenagers uses of communication technology

2012-05-21 teenagers • adolescence • sociology • texting • sms • facebook

Linux 3.4 supports an x64 mode with 32 bit addresses, to save cache and RAM

2012-05-21 linux • kernel • x32 • x64 • x86 • cache • efficiency

Very personal account of being a deaf engineer at a startup

2012-05-21 startups • deaf • culture • minority • via:hackernews

Another Javascript rich text editor. Looks pretty good.

2012-05-21 editor • html5 • javascript • text • edit • textarea

Nasdaq's IPO failure

Details on what went wrong with Facebook's IPO

2012-05-21 nasdaq • brokerage • facebook • ipo • investment

Plane vs eclipse

From 2010, great photo

2012-05-21 photos • eclipse • airplane

Plotting distriubtions

Alternatives to histograms

2012-05-20 statistics • visualization • graphs • histograms

Flickr liquid photos

New page layout, works great

2012-05-20 photos • flickr • html

Zuckerberg marries Chan

That's a hell of a photo. Day after the IPO

2012-05-20 facebook • wedding • zuckerberg • ipo

Why Aren't Cities Littered With Dead Pigeons?

Once asked, you must know the answer

2012-05-19 ecology • cities • pigeons

Google concept list

Interesting release; map words to Wikipedia pages to related words, an advanced Wordnet

2012-05-19 informationretrieval • google • words • semantics • wordnet

Facebook is not worth $33B

September 2010, dhh of 37signals proclaims

2012-05-18 facebook • valuation • internet • startup • economics • ipo

Inconsistent anti-aliasing

Interesting bug in Webkit's rendering

2012-05-18 via:hackernews • webkit • fonts • antialiasing • css

Harsh Diablo III review

I don't fully agree, but it's a well written perspective

2012-05-18 games • diablo • review • criticism

Nekogames Parameters

Surprisingly engaging minimalist role playing game

2012-05-18 games • rpg • via:waxy

A mathematical way to smooth out errors in measurements, as with a GPS track

2012-05-18 gps • geo • filtering • smoothing • math

How Web Maps Work

Excellent overview of web map technology

2012-05-17 maps • mapping • tiles • geography • geo

Diablo: Lore Summary

Readable backstory for Diablo 3

2012-05-17 games • diablo • lore • blizzard

ZeroN 3d tactile UI

Levitating objects in free space as a user interface

2012-05-17 mit • medialab • ui • hci

Twitter adopts Do-Not-Track

A big milestone in the privacy option Mozilla is promoting

2012-05-17 privacy • twitter • firefox • mozilla • ads • advertising

NYC trees visualization

Amazing beekeeper tool; graph of what trees are near your hive

2012-05-17 d3 • visualization • d3js • bees • honey • beekeeping

Javascript charts rendering to canvas

2012-05-16 charts • charting • javascript • visualization

In pre-modern Japan, sticks were used instead of toilet paper

2012-05-16 toilet • japan • hygiene • toiletpaper

Control appliances via wifi with a tiny adapter

2012-05-16 internet • tcpip • wifi • x10 • control

Morgan Freeman being awesome on Electric Company

2012-05-16 tv • morganfreeman • electriccompany • via:metafilter

Judges should program

Great example where some basic familiarity with coding is good for society

2012-05-16 programming • java • oracle • google • patents

Yahoo's Flickr fiasco

How an acquisition of an innovative startup can go so wrong.

2012-05-15 business • yahoo • flickr • startup • acquisition

Wrongful execution

Texas case went very badly

2012-05-15 texas • crime • murder • via:metafilter • capitalpunishment • execution • prison

Buchanan, the gay president

Bit of history I didn't know

2012-05-15 gay • buchanan • us • politics • history

Miss.Tic in Paris

Website of the Parisian street artist

2012-05-14 streetart • art • paris • via:metafilter • misstic

Grand Old Party

Voter approval ratings cast as sex toys

2012-05-14 visualization • politics • gop • republicans • buttplugs • sex • funny

Wolfram's bibliography omission

Always wondered why New Kind of Science doesn't have a bibliography; here's why

2012-05-14 wolfram • books • bibliography • academics • complexsystems • ankos

Welcome to Life

Uploading your consciousness in the age of copyright maximalism

2012-05-14 copyright • sciencefiction • video • movie • life • singularity

Test your backups

Crazy Pixar story; almost lost Toy Story 2 in production

2012-05-13 movies • pixar • toystory • backups

Kim Jong-un bad heritage

Maternal grandfather collaborated with Japan: in North Korea that makes him "hostile class"

2012-05-13 northkorea • war • korea • kimjongun

FlightPrep sues Jeppesen

Ugly story continues to be ugly

2012-05-13 patents • jeppesen • flying • aviation

Nice little tutorial

2012-05-13 d3 • svg • design • javascript

Good explanation of how hand work is better than automatic anti-aliasing

2012-05-12 design • typography • graphics • antialiasing

Edmund White on Cranbook

Reminiscing about being gay at Romney's prep school, in the 50s

2012-05-11 gay • romney • edmundwhite • school • memoir

US Army Heraldry

Patches and badges

2012-05-11 images • design • graphics • usarmy • military

4k demo compression

Details on Crinkler, a .exe compressor used to make ultra-tiny programs

2012-05-11 programming • demo • scene • demoscene • compression

Amazing 4096 byte PC demo; YouTube video linked on this page

2012-05-11 games • demos • scene • demoscene • procedural • art • graphics

Extract the most interesting colors of an image

2012-05-11 via:hackernews • color • design • python • code

Details on Apple's rumoured new maps for iPhone

2012-05-11 maps • iphone • ios • apple

1500 Archers on a 28.8

Netcode for RTS games

2012-05-10 games • rts • development • ageofempires • coding

OkCupid: Gay vs Straight

Another pop-sociology survey

2012-05-10 sex • sexuality • gay • straight • gender

One-joke wonder Japanese comedians

Nice collection of video clips

2012-05-10 comedy • japan • via:metafilter • funny • hardgay

Trapani on "brogramming"

The trend is overinflated, but Trapani has some smart things to say here about sexism in software

2012-05-10 sexism • software • gender • programming • engineering • brogrammers • klout

Dark Shadows (TV)

A guide to the 60s soap opera

2012-05-10 tv • television • darkshadows • vampires • via:metafilter

$0.90 / megabyte

European Union moves to cap mobile phone rates

2012-05-10 mobile • data • bandwidth • charges • europe

Google vs. Bing

Same for me: I use so many Google products it's awkward not using their search

2012-05-10 google • bing • search • internet • lockin

John Travolta gay lawsuit

NMA has really upped their reporting

2012-05-08 travolta • gay • celebrity • wtf • funny • nma

Hindenburg photos

Nice collection

2012-05-08 aviation • flying • hindenburg • blimp • dirigible • zeppelin • photos • journalism • germany • nazis

Gay rights by state

Nice little visualization

2012-05-08 civilrights • gay • visualization • politics • us

HTML5 canvas performance

Various tricks for making rendering faster

2012-05-08 canvas • performance • optimization • web • javascript • html

Alternative obesity hypothesis

Taubes argues his side, that it's carbs that are America's problem

2012-05-08 food • diet • carbohydrates • fat • hbo • tv

Gestural UI demo

Exploring a galactic dataset using hand motions

2012-05-08 visualization • oblong • ui • space • data

Internet in Libyan revolution

Details on how Internet tech was used to bring down the end of Qaddafi

2012-05-08 libya • socialmedia • livestream • freedom • politics

ForeFlight hiring

Amazing aviation app maker hiring a software engineer

2012-05-07 flying • aviation • job • foreflight • ios

Not exactly news, but investing in venture capital funds is kinda broken

2012-05-07 vc • venturecapital • investment

Browser technologies

Nice summary of links for various Web things

2012-05-07 html5 • html • web • development • javascript

Merged global DEM

Slides from a talk presenting a unified digital elevation model combining previous surveys

2012-05-06 dem • gdem • aster • srtm • maps • terrain • gis

Critical news about North Korean

2012-05-06 northkorea • korea • news

Python flickrapi

Seems to be the winning Python interface for Flickr

2012-05-06 flickr • api • python

Patent mass aggregators

Law review of the shift in patents to being accumulated into patent troll portfolios

2012-05-05 intellectualventures • patents • freedom • innovation • stanford • law

A bit discouraging, but interesting that it's a commercial product

2012-05-05 lytro • images • photos • photography • camera

Light field camera, lets you adjust focus after the shot. For sale!

2012-05-05 camera • lytro • focus • photography • photos

The Filter Bubble

DuckDuckGo's explanation of how personalized search narrows what you see

2012-05-05 search • google • duckduckgo • culture

Andy Kaufman / Fridays

Amazing performance, he completely dismantles the show

2012-05-05 funny • kaufman • comedy • tv • television • fridays

feature films from North Korea

2012-05-05 movies • korea • northkorea

Keith Haring porny mural

Fun, sexually explicit line drawings by Keith Haring

2012-05-05 gay • haring • art • porn

Airship interiors

Cruise ships once floated through the sky

2012-05-04 aviation • flying • zeppelin • hindenberg • blimp • dirigible • travel • history

Multiple Mercators

Reprojecting the globe to different centers

2012-05-04 math • projections • geometry • maps • mercator

Innovative iPhone travel app

2012-05-04 travel • triposo • iphone • demo

Diablo 3 RMT auctions

Details on how the real money trade in the new game is going to work

2012-05-04 diablo3 • games • auction • rmt

Kindling for Campfire

Chrome extension to add some basic usability features to the web chat client

2012-05-04 campfire • irc • chrome • extension • development

Google Analytics social data hub

Google has an API for social networks to share data with webmaster Analytics

2012-05-04 googel • social • twitter • facebook • api

Awesome indie game has a nice chiptune soundtrack

2012-05-04 music • games • fez • chiptune

Twitter API objects

Nice guide to the various blobs of data the Twitter API returns

2012-05-03 twitter • api • docs • documentation

Postgres packaged as a launchable Mac application

2012-05-03 via:onethingwell • postgres • database • macos • mac

Automated product design

Exploration of algorithmic designs on Zazzle

2012-05-03 via:metafilter • design • zazzle • spam

Burn Jita results

CCP handles a massive Eve Online event

2012-05-02 jita • games • eveonline • eve • mmos • scalability • ccp

Thugs in the Mission

"Protest" gone bad. Great local news article.

2012-05-01 news • sanfrancisco • occupy • occupysf • mission

Nice highlights of features of the other open source database

2012-05-01 database • code • postgres • sql • via:hackernews

A beekeeper's song

Lovely reflections by a Metafilter user

2012-05-01 bees • metafilter